Taking shine to 2015

why you need to stay ahead of the game to be able to enjoy some treats

By Anand Holla

A lot to look forward to may be a cliché. But it also happens to be a very appropriate way to describe what awaits us in the New Year culturescape. As you ring out the old and ring in the new, we give you top seven things to watch out for in 2015:

Qatar-Turkey Year of Culture

This will undoubtedly be the coolest cultural magnum opus of 2015. For long, Turkish cuisine, coffee, soap operas, fashion, art, and design sensibilities, have been a massive hit with Qataris, and in fact, with all Arabs. It was only natural then, that the 500-year-old history and brotherhood between Qatar and Turkey benefited from a full-fledged cultural exchange arena that it deserves.

The 2015 Qatar-Turkey Year of Culture is as much a nod to the excellent relations, both political and economic, between the two countries, as it is to the curiosity and fascination its people have in each other’s cultures and traditions.

This is also why Turkey is planning to soon open the Yunus Emre Turkish Cultural Center in Qatar which will offer Turkish classes, teach Turkish arts and music. Qataris’ love for Turkey can be gauged by their growing number buying property there, and even travelling. For instance, more than 18,000 Qataris visited Turkey in 2013. In 2011, it was 7,000, and in 2012, 14,000.

On the Qatar Museums blog, Hessa al Ali, the creator of Years of Culture logos, explains how for the eye-catching Qatar-Turkey 2015 logo, she tried connecting the Islamic art aspect of both countries and how it is apparent everywhere, especially in architecture.

“I, then, looked at how Islamic tiles have connected patterns that each tile alone doesn’t show you the full picture unless you put all those tiles together,” she says, “Then I looked at Tulips, which are the main flowers of the Ottoman Empire and have been very significant as a sign of royalty. So I decided to break down the letters into parts to make these geometric shapes that are separated but connected (just like tiles) and where some have Tulip shapes.”

After Japan (2012), UK (2013), Brazil (2014), 2015 will be Turkey’s rendezvous with Qatar, presenting to us the finest of its arts, music, dances, films and live acts. For starters, kindly make a note of acclaimed Turkish pianist and composer Fazil Say’s Istanbul Symphony performance on January 24 at the Katara Opera House.

WISE Summit

Ever since Qatar Foundation, under the leadership of its Chairperson, Her Highness Sheikha Moza bint Nasser, established the World Innovation Summit for Education (WISE) in 2009, the multi-sectoral platform for creative thinking and purposeful action has grown exponentially in its impact and intent. WISE treats its series of ongoing programmes just as importantly as its annual summit, bolstering the ascent of education through collaboration.

After seeing through another successful edition in 2014, the 2015 WISE Summit will take place from November 3 to 5 in Doha. Its annual summits are famous for bringing together decision makers, experts and practitioners, who discuss ground-breaking innovations and take concrete steps to effect significant improvements to worldwide education.

The three-day Summit sees individuals from all fields of the public and private sectors meet to put together their experience and expertise for tackling challenges facing education. Then, of course, is the much sought-after WISE Prize for Education, which is awarded to an individual or a team in recognition of an outstanding contribution to education.

Tasmeem Festival

A biennial international conference, Tasmeem explores unique and contemporary themes within art and design. Each conference delves into new ways of thinking, making, seeing and learning. The theme of the 2015 edition is playfulness. That’s why it is summed up in an Arabizi word Ajeeb (ahh-jhee-b), a common expression meaning “strange in a strange way, cool in a cool way, and slightly weird in a slightly weird way.”

From March 8 to March 12, Virginia Commonwealth University in Qatar will host the festival that is set to celebrate the “strange, surprising, and playful in art and design.” The event will have ‘3ajeeb! Studio’, featuring more than 20 individual projects, led by a mix of multidisciplinary artists, designers, architects, performers and musicians.

The projects’ outcomes will be exhibited on the last day of the event, which will also be an all-day festival. As the organisers put it: “Attendees can wander around, interact with workshop outcomes, view exhibitions, eat regional food, browse local wares, play games, watch performances, and just be 3ajeeb!” For registration and more details, visit www.tasmeemdoha.com

IGN Convention

The sprawling Qatar National Convention Centre (QNCC) will buzz with gamers, cartoon lovers, and pop culture nerds on February 26 and 27. Doha will finally play host to the IGN Convention, the unifying force of video game, film, technology and comic community.

Apart from getting to meet gaming celebrities, attending discussion panels or Q&A sessions with regional artists, there’s plenty of fun activities in the offing like watching movies through the day, or participating in a slew of events such as Cosplay or Costume play competitions and video game tournaments.

The more serious gamers can head to the Artist Alley where artists and developers will promote and sell their work. “The IGN Convention will combine learning with fun, holding workshops on creating manga and animations, developing video games and movie making,” the organisers say.

Previous conferences of IGN, a popular international gaming site, have drawn sizeable crowds; more than 5,000 fans attended the Bahrain convention and more than 7,000 dropped by for Dubai. It’s anybody’s guess whether IGN’s much-awaited Doha debut will register a remarkable footfall.

Ajyal Youth Film Festival

By pulling off a superb second edition of Ajyal Youth Film Festival earlier this month, the Doha Film Institute has set everyone’s hopes pretty high for its 2015 run. As 90 films from 43 countries were screened to favourable response from Qatar’s film enthusiasts, the home-grown film fiesta now seeks to build on its commitment towards giving wings to the creative development of the region’s youth.

Poised to charm children, youth, and families alike, the Festival packs in six days of screenings, workshops, exhibitions and special events. The Festival also saw the second annual Doha Film Experience — Ajyal’s youth jury, where hundreds of young people between the ages of 8 and 21 watch and discuss films, and determine the winners of the competition. With experience and momentum behind it, Ajyal’s third edition slated for December 2015 promises to be its best.

Qumra

It will rain films and filmmakers in Doha through 2015 as the long-awaited Qumra is set to be held from March 6 to 11. A quick look through some of the names who have confirmed to participate as Masters in the event is enough to get film-lovers jumping with joy: Abderrahmane Sissako (Timbuktu), Leila Hatami (A Separation), Cristian Mungiu (4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days) and Danis Tanović (No Man’s Land).

Qumra, an old Arabic word for camera, aspires to stage an international gathering of creative filmmakers and actors so as to spur the development of emerging filmmakers both from Qatar and around the world, with a special focus on first and second-time filmmakers.

“Directors and Producers attached to up to 25 projects in development or post-production will be invited to participate in the event. They will include a number of emerging filmmakers from Qatar, as well as recipients of funding from the Institute’s Grants Programme,” says the DFI.

The robust programme will feature industry meetings designed to assist with propelling projects to their next stages of development, including master classes, work-in-progress screenings, bespoke matchmaking sessions and tailored workshops with industry experts. This creative exchange will take place alongside a programme of public screenings curated with input from the Qumra Masters. So gear up for lights, Qumra, action!

Ed Sheeran

For his fans, the news was too good to be true. But British pop sensation Ed Sheeran will indeed wow Doha at the QNCC on March 3. Right after touring Europe to promote his second and 2014’s biggest selling album, X (pronounced Multiply), the 23-year-old Grammy nominated singer-songwriter will turn to Middle East in March; first Qatar, then UAE (Dubai). 

Latest reports are still coming in of how Multiply is now spending its 12^th non-consecutive week at the top spot of the Official Albums Chart. Sheeran’s is one concert that you must plan early for as the show’s tickets seem to be disappearing as you read.